


Heart of Ancient Winter

by EHyde



Category: Frozen (2013), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 07:45:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1104238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EHyde/pseuds/EHyde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A search for the stolen Casket of Ancient Winters brings Thor and Loki to the kingdom of Arendelle. Loki thinks Queen Elsa is hiding something--but of course, he has secrets of his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart of Ancient Winter

**Author's Note:**

> For Elsa and Anna, this takes place one year after Frozen. For Thor and Loki, it takes place an unspecified amount of time after The Dark World (I know the timelines don't match up, this will be explained). Thor and Loki have, for the most part, reconciled, and are working together to rule Asgard (because, hey, a girl can dream).

Anna could tell straightaway that something was wrong. “Stay back,” she urged Kristoff. “I’ll talk to Elsa.” They had been away from the palace for several weeks, journeying in the mountains together, and had returned to find Arendelle looking exactly as it should in summer—exactly as it had for the first fifteen years of Anna’s life, at least.

It had been a year since Elsa had frozen her kingdom, a year since she had thawed it again. And in that year she’d built a public park, a Winter Courtyard with its own ice palace, open to everyone. It served to remind her people that their queen’s powers could bring beauty as well as fear, and it also served to remind herself what she was capable of. The towers of that ice palace stretched high into the sky, visible for miles—and now they were gone.

“Elsa!” Anna called, as she rushed into the palace. The gates were still open, at least. That was a good sign. “Elsa? Oh!” Her elder sister was pacing briskly down the hallway, and Anna almost ran into her as she rounded a corner searching.

“Good, you’re back,” said Elsa.

“You’re wearing your gloves ...” They weren’t exactly the same gloves, of course, but their meaning was clear. “Elsa, what’s going on?”

“We have guests,” said Elsa. “Or we will, soon. Word was sent ahead, so I had time to ...” she waved her hand toward where the Winter Courtyard had been.

Anna frowned. “But people from all the neighboring kingdoms were here for your coronation,” she said. “They all know what you can do. You don’t have to hide your powers from them.” People from further away had started coming to Arendelle, too, wanting to see the truth of the stories they’d heard, and Elsa had never felt the need to hide from them before, either.

“They’re not from any of the neighboring kingdoms,” said Elsa. “Our guests are Thor and Loki, the two princes of Asgard.”

“... Asgard?” But that was ...

“Yes! They’re _gods_ , Anna! And you know the stories. How the frost giants cast the land into eternal winter, until the armies of Asgard slaughtered them all! I can’t let them know what I can do, they’ll—”

“Shh, Elsa.” Anna took Elsa’s gloved hands. “It’ll be all right. They’ll see you’re not some monster.”

“I _did_ cast the kingdom into eternal winter,” said Elsa.

“Pshh. It definitely has to last longer than a week to count as eternal. And you fixed it!”

“Have you _heard_ the stories about Thor? He’s not the type to ask questions first!”

“Well ... it’ll be all right. They won’t stay forever, and then ...”

“Exactly,” said Elsa. “After they leave, things can go back to the way they were. Now that I’ve actually had practice using my powers, I’m much better at controlling them. I just have to keep it in for as long as they’re here.”

“All right,” said Anna. “I’ll go back and find Kristoff, we’ll explain the situation to the palace and the town. Make sure everyone knows what not to say.” Because people _did_ talk—they celebrated their Ice Queen, they bragged about her powers to foreigners now. Maybe the princes of Asgard already knew what Arendelle’s queen could do—maybe word had reached that far, maybe that was why they had come. Anna certainly couldn’t recall any other stories about the gods traveling to earth in modern history— _something_ must have brought them here. But if they didn’t know ... she recalled some of the old stories. It would hurt Elsa more than she let on, but maybe hiding was the safest option.

~~~

The kingdom of Arendelle had done itself proud, decking the halls of the royal palace with brightly colored banners and setting out a feast that Thor found more pleasing than anything he’d had in London or New York.

“Something’s wrong here,” Loki muttered to Thor.

“Nonsense! Look at the welcome they’ve given us. Look at this feast! I dare say Volstagg could eat his fill.”

“It’s not that,” said Loki. “The people seem on edge.”

Thor considered. Were the greetings too forced? Was there worry hidden behind the warm wishes? He shrugged. “These people aren’t the mortals of our time. They think of us as gods. It’s only natural for them to be nervous.”

“It’s more than that. There’s something we’re not being told.”

“You’d know all about keeping secrets, I suppose.”

“Yes,” said Loki. “I would. And about having secrets kept from me.”

Thor sighed. Loki had a suspicious nature, but it was true that they weren’t just hear for pleasantries. “Whatever’s going on, we can’t do anything to draw too much attention. We’re out of our place in time, remember. If Heimdall were to cast his eye toward us—”

“He’d be very confused, is all. He said so himself.”

“But it could lead to more. We can’t do anything that would start a war.”

Loki smiled. “Can you imagine your past self blundering in here, hammer swinging? Past you wouldn’t even give you a chance to explain yourself.”

“That’s ... probably true.”

“And my past self ... well. Just imagine the things I could tell him.”

“Enough,” said Thor. “We’re here to restore history. Not to change it.” Bringing Loki with him—on this quest in particular—might strike some as ill-advised. Actually, everyone he’d spoken with had counseled him against it. But Thor had meant it, when he’d once said that Loki was better suited to rule—only no one else in Asgard would ever see that, if all they ever saw was Thor holding Loki back.

Not that Loki didn’t need to be held back sometimes. “We’re to find the Casket of Ancient Winters and return it to its rightful place in time. That’s all.”

“Of course,” said Loki. “That’s all.” He changed the subject. “Look at the queen. She’s more uneasy than anyone.”

“You think she knows something?”

“This _is_ the time and place that Heimdall saw, or as close as he could send us.”

“I don’t know,” said Thor. “She doesn’t look like someone who would steal from Asgard.”

“Don’t let your fondness for one mortal woman taint your view of them,” said Loki. “I’ve dealt with some more ... unsavory ... examples of their race. This land, this Arendelle as they call it today, it was the center of the Jotuns’ stronghold on Midgard. Perhaps she’s heard those stories, and wants that power for herself.”

“And you shouldn’t let the way _you_ think color your view of everyone else,” countered Thor. “Not everyone hungers for power. Now, listen. We’ve been granted an official audience with the Queen and her court tomorrow. We can find out what we need to know from her then. Tonight, we should enjoy ourselves. Look around! The Midgard of our time has forgotten how to live like this.”

~~~

Anna and Elsa looked out over the feast from the dais. The Asgardian princes hadn’t brought any attendants with them, which surprised Anna, but then, who knew how gods traveled. A chariot drawn by giant goats? If that story was true, the stablemaster hadn’t mentioned it. It meant that they were seated alongside Arendellan courtiers and officials, but ... “The Asgardians have kept to themselves all evening,” said Elsa. “I don’t like it. We still don’t know what they’re even here for.”

“Well, I mean ... you _did_ tell everyone to keep their distance.”

“I didn’t tell them to do it to the point of rudeness!”

“And you gave them an audience tomorrow,” Anna added. “Of course they’re going to wait till then to bring up their official business. It’s only proper.”

“Stop being so reasonable,” said Elsa, and Anna could see she looked a little calmer than she had only a moment before.

“But anyway,” Anna added, “I was just thinking I might ask Thor to dance. Maybe they don’t know our customs—maybe they’re waiting for us to take the lead.”

“Let’s see,” said Elsa. “He’s huge and blond. I think you have a type.”

“Oh, shh.”

Elsa was right, though—Thor _was_ huge. Taller than Kristoff, and big in a way that suggested he was more at home on a battlefield than doing hard labor. Anna’s “Would you like to dance” came out near inaudibly the first time.

But he smiled after she repeated herself, and all Anna’s nervousness disappeared. “I’m unfamiliar with your dances,” Thor admitted. “But I’d be happy to let you show me, your Highness.”

Teaching blond giants court dances was something Anna had experience with. “You certainly catch on faster than Kristoff,” she said, after the first dance.

“Kristoff?”

“Oh, he’s my—he’s not here tonight,” said Anna. Then she realized how that might come across. “I mean—I don’t mean ‘he’s not here tonight so we can do whatever we want,’ I mean he’s—he’s not actually a courtier, so, that’s why he’s not here.”

“I see,” said Thor. “I think.”

“He sells ice,” said Anna. “Normally, I’d be expected to court some noble from a neighboring kingdom, you know—to secure Arendelle’s strength? But since Elsa—” Oops. Couldn’t say that. “I mean, Elsa thinks our kingdom is secure enough that that’s not an issue.”

“I’m happy for you,” said Thor.

“So uh ... do you have someone? A goddess?”

Thor laughed. “We’re not gods, you know.”

“You’re not? But in all the stories—and the stories are hundreds of years old!”

“Asgardians live a long time, it’s true. And we’re stronger than mortals. But we’re not gods. People tell stories in a way that makes sense to them.”

Anna considered that. It occurred to her that, years from now, people might call Elsa a goddess. Strange.

“I do have someone I love,” Thor continued. “She’s not Asgardian, though, but a mortal woman like you.”

There _had_ to be a story there. Anna wondered why she hadn't heard it; that was one she’d have paid attention to. “Tell me about her,” Anna urged. “What nation is she from?”

“Another time, perhaps,” said Thor.

“Okay,” said Anna. “Do you want to go riding tomorrow? We’d have time in the morning before your royal audience. You could meet Kristoff, and we could show you the countryside.”

“I ...” Thor considered. “Yes. I would like that.”

 ~~~

“You _what_?”

“I just asked him to go riding.”

“Anna, he’s dangerous!”

“He’s _nice_ ,” Anna countered. “I think the stories got it wrong. In all the stories Thor is a hot-headed brute, but this Thor is kind. And thoughtful.”

“And still dangerous. Hans was kind too, remember!”

“Well, it’s not like I’ll be alone with him,” said Anna. “Kristoff will be there.”

“No,” Elsa decided. “I’ll come with you instead.”

~~~

“There may be something to your suspicions after all,” Thor admitted, when he and Loki were alone in the rooms that had been prepared for them. “Something Princess Anna said while we were dancing. She implied that Queen Elsa was confident enough in her power that she wasn’t concerned about forming alliances with the neighboring nations.”

“Certainly unusual, for a kingdom this small,” said Loki.

“Anna invited me to go riding with her tomorrow,” said Thor. “Perhaps she’ll tell me more.”

“Excellent, I’ll come with you,” said Loki. “If the queen and princess are hiding something, they’ll be on their guard during the official audience. Less so on a casual ride. And, do not take offense, brother, but I’m far better at getting people to tell me things than you are.”

~~~

It was strange, Elsa thought, how easy it was to go back to hiding her powers. She’d thought she’d left that girl behind but—that was who she’d been for over half of her life. _It’s just temporary_ , she reminded herself. _You’re Queen. Your duty is to your kingdom before yourself_. If keeping it in was what it took to keep her kingdom from war, that was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

What if Anna was right, though? What if the Asgardians could accept what she was? No. She couldn’t take that risk. Asgard had defeated armies of frost giants when humans could do nothing but flee—if they decided she was a monster, Elsa would be powerless to protect herself and her kingdom.

It was a beautiful day for a ride, clear and sunny, and in any other situation Elsa would be enjoying herself. Anna and Thor certainly seemed to be. They’d fallen behind, Elsa noticed—Anna laughing and chattering nonstop, pointing out different sights and landmarks, Thor smiling as he followed her gaze. But Loki—Loki was watching her. Abruptly, he noticed her noticing him, and guided his horse closer to hers.

“Those mountains,” Loki asked. “Is there snow on them year-round?” He was pointing toward the North Mountain and the rest of the peaks surrounding it.

“Yes,” said Elsa.

Loki paused. He’d clearly been expecting more than a single-word answer. “This whole land was once covered in ice and snow,” he said. “It was the heart of the frost giants’ domain on Earth.”

“I’m sure the snow up there now is a product of perfectly natural weather patterns,” said Elsa.

“Of course,” said Loki. “The armies of Asgard defeated the frost giants long ago.”

“I’ve heard the stories,” said Elsa. Strange how Loki’s conversation mirrored her own thoughts ... she wasn’t sure if he was fishing for something or just trying to fill in the awkward silence. Either way, she probably shouldn’t be continuing the conversation, but ... “Have you been to Jotunheim?” she asked.

“Have I—?”

“That’s the name of the frost giants’ world, isn’t it? Did I say it right?” Loki nodded. “I just—I wonder what an entire world of ice and snow would be like. It must be beautiful—ice castles, crystal streets and plazas—even though the frost giants were evil, of course,” she added hastily.

“No,” said Loki shortly. “It’s not like that.” He paused. “Not many would hear of a world of ice and snow and think that it must be beautiful.”

“I mean ...” Should she try to cover? “The way frost crystals form on a windowpane, or an untouched field of snow on a winter morning—you wouldn’t call those beautiful?”

“I would,” said Loki.

“See? It’s not strange to say that, then.”

“Jotunheim isn’t like that,” said Loki. “After the Jotuns were defeated, the Allfather took the source of their power from them. Jotunheim is dark, and dirty, and their fortresses may have been beautiful once, but now they’ve fallen into ruin.”

 _Took the source of their power? Was that possible?_ Elsa glanced behind her. She and Loki had slowed while talking, and Thor and Anna were catching up. “I see,” said Elsa. “So it _would_ be beautiful, but for you.”

“It _might_ have been beautiful, but for their own desire for war and conquest,” Loki countered. “The frost giants are a cruel people, evil and treacherous. They don’t deserve beauty.”

Elsa frowned. Of course the frost giants were monsters in all the stories she’d heard, but she could never forget how people had called _her_ a monster, too. “Everyone deserves beauty.”

“Look.” Loki slid off the back of his horse, then took Elsa’s gloved hand to help her down. “This is Jotunheim. He waved a hand through the air and a vision spread out before them, transforming the landscape before their eyes.

“Magic?” asked Elsa, marveling at the sight.

“Just an illusion. Look, though. What beauty could you find here? What creature who was not a monster could ever call this home?”

“Well ...” Elsa stepped forward into the altered landscape. Loki was right—it was dark and dirty. Old, gray snow, mixed with gravel and filth. But ... “ _Look_ at these columns!” They were fallen over and broken, but she could imagine how they’d once been. Not towers purely made of ice, as she had built, but ice and stone together, lending each other strength. She had an urge to stretch out her hands and restore them to their former glory, but this was just a picture, not the real thing. She couldn’t do anything here.

Still, she continued forward, studying the ruins around her. Almost instinctively she could see how they’d once appeared—something in the ice spoke to her. If she had a way to get to the real Jotunheim she could fix this, she could make it right—but no, the real Jotunheim would be full of real frost giants and besides, she had her own kingdom to take care of. Elsa turned back toward Loki. “It’s too bad you can’t see it,” she said.

~~~

“Wow, Elsa’s actually talking to someone,” Anna commented.

“Is that so unusual?”

“She has a hard time letting people in,” said Anna. “She’s better than she was before—I mean, she’s better than she used to be. But still.” It wouldn’t be too surprising with anyone else, but Anna hadn’t expected Elsa to open up to the Asgardians.

“In that case,” said Thor, smiling, “I regret that our visit must be so short. Perhaps it would do both your sister and my brother good to spend time in each other’s company.”

“Maybe,” said Anna. “Why are you staying for such a short time, anyway? I mean, you just got here yesterday, and you’re leaving tomorrow—it’s hardly worth the trip!” It would have actually been insulting, probably, if not for who they were. “How long does it take to travel between worlds, anyway?”

Thor laughed. “It takes but an instant.”

“Oh ...”

“Your race will achieve that power someday, too, your Highness,” said Thor. “I expect,” he added.

“What other worlds have you—oh!” The hillside ahead of them had transformed to winter in an instant. _Elsa!_ Why had she—?

“Fear not,” said Thor. “It’s but an illusion. Though why Loki chose to—”

“I wasn’t afraid!” Anna protested. “I was just—” Worried that Elsa had panicked and sent the land into winter again. But she couldn’t say that. “... an illusion? You mean, magic?”

“It is a skill of Loki’s ... though why he would want to show the queen a vision of Jotunheim, I do not know.”

“Well, we _won’t_ know if we stay back here,” said Anna, urging her horse into a trot. “Come on, I can’t hear what they’re saying!” But the vision of the icy world vanished as Anna approached, and she still couldn’t quite make out what Loki said as he reached out a hand to brush a stray hair from Elsa’s cheek. Then—

The instant Loki touched Elsa’s skin, something changed. _He_ changed, frost spreading up his skin and—no, that wasn’t frost, that was his skin, turning blue, and his eyes flared red, but only for an instant as he drew back from Elsa and looked once more as he always had. The two of them just stared at each other. “What _are_ you?” asked Elsa and Loki in unison.

“She didn’t mean it!” Anna cried out, dismounting and rushing to her sister’s side. “Whatever she did to you, I’m sure it was an accident!”

“I didn’t do anything,” said Elsa. “I know when I’m using my powers—even the times when I don’t mean to do it. I didn’t do anything.”

“Your powers?” Thor asked. “You’re a sorceress?”

Elsa glanced at Anna, then back at Thor and Loki. “Yes,” she said, defiantly. She pulled off her gloves and sent a flurry of snow into the air. “I am. I have power over ice and snow. And—and if you want to do to me and my kingdom what you did to Jotunheim, well—I’d like to see you try!”

Anna held her breath, and then—Thor smiled. “Queen Elsa,” he said. “Your kingdom is at peace. You seem a kind, wise ruler. I don’t know how the stories are told today, but we went to war with Jotunheim because of what the frost giants _did_. Not because of what they were.” He seemed to be saying this to Loki as much as to Elsa, and Anna, remembering Loki’s transformation a moment ago, put two and two together.

“You’re a frost giant!” she blurted out. Um. That might not’ve been the _best_ thing to say to a visiting foreign dignitary ...

“Loki is my brother,” said Thor.

“Sorry!” said Anna hastily. “I just—”

“I am of Jotun blood,” said Loki. “Though I was raised as a prince of Asgard.”

No one spoke for a time.

“Um ... maybe we should all go back to the palace?” Anna suggested. “I mean, there is still an official court audience ... which won’t be awkward at all ... and we wouldn’t want to be late.”

“It’s no matter,” said Thor. “I don’t believe it will be necessary.”

“But,” said Elsa. “We still don’t even know why you came.”

“Because of you, I think,” said Thor. “We travel in search of something that was stolen from Asgard. A powerful weapon—the Casket of Ancient Winters. This was the source of the frost giants’ power, and what allowed them to cover your world in eternal winter. Heimdall, who watches the nine realms, thought that the Casket would be found here, but I think now that it was your power that he saw.” A quest for a stolen magical weapon? This practically was one of the old stories.

“No, it’s more than that,” said Loki. “My lady, may I take your hand?” Slowly, Elsa nodded. She reached out her hand and Loki took it, looking down into her eyes as his own glowed red again. “I have held the Casket before,” he said, looking toward Thor while still gripping Elsa’s hand. “I have felt its power. This _is_ that same power.”

Elsa pulled away. “My power comes from the _frost giants_?”

“Hold on, that’s impossible,” said Anna. “Your Casket was only just stolen, right?” Unless they’d been looking for it for a _very_ long time. “Elsa’s had her powers her entire life.”

Thor and Loki looked at each other. “It’s ... more complicated than that,” said Thor. “The Casket was stolen centuries in the future. It vanished completely—nowhere to be found in all of the nine realms. Heimdall believed it had been sent back in time, somehow—to elude our search, and perhaps to change the course of history. His vision of the present is perfect, but the past is less clear to him, especially when the past has been changed.”

“So wait,” said Anna. “You’re from the _future?_ ”

Thor nodded. “The same bridge that can send us across worlds can send us across time, as well. But it’s never done. The risks are too high; any small action could have enormous consequences. Only in cases like this, when the consequences of doing nothing would be far worse ...”

Anna tried to wrap her mind around this. They were talking about changing the course of history like the future was set, and well, if they were from the future this was the past to them, and ... she could see why they’d want to avoid traveling in time.

“So you’ve found what you were searching for,” said Elsa. “What are you going to do now?”

“As I said,” said Thor. “I don’t see you or your powers as a threat. But I would dearly like to know who was able to steal from the heart of Asgard.”

“As would I,” said Elsa. “I have never known where my magic came from. Now I have a chance to find out.”

Elsa’s powers were still new to Anna, who’d only known about them for a year, but once again she was reminded that Elsa had had these powers, had kept them hidden, all her life. Anna hadn’t been there for her sister before—which was Elsa’s own fault for keeping it a secret—but she could be there for her now.

“Grandpa Troll sure knew a lot about how your powers work,” said Anna. “Maybe he knows something.”

“The Stone Trolls are still here?” Thor asked.

“You know them?"

“Of course!” Thor laughed. “I always liked them.”

“You would,” muttered Loki.

“Well, we can’t just ride off to their valley now,” said Elsa. “The kingdom would be in an uproar if we just disappeared like that. So. We’ll go back to the palace, you’ll appear before me in court to request Arendelle’s aid in a quest, _then_ we’ll ride off to see the trolls.” Abruptly, she turned away, remounted her horse, and set off back towards the town.

“Well,” said Loki. “She’s taking this well.”

Anna didn’t know Loki well enough to tell if he was being serious or sarcastic, but then, he didn’t know Elsa well enough to have any right to try to read her moods. She rounded on him. “You don’t understand!” she said. “All her life she thought her power was a curse. She kept it hidden from everyone, even from me! It’s only in the past year that she’s learned to accept it, to see the beauty in it, to use it for good. And then you show up and you tell her that it’s a curse after all, that her power was only ever meant as a weapon of destruction. Maybe it’s different for you because you _are_ a frost giant, but for us, they were monsters out of bedtime stories. And now you’ve told her her power comes from them!” She turned away and sped off after Elsa.

~~~

Thor watched the two women ride away from them, and sighed. “The Casket wasn’t only a weapon,” he said. “Its power was used to build the great cities of Jotunheim. I hear they were quite beautiful, before Laufey turned that power towards war.” Whether a power was a gift or a curse depended on how you used it. Queen Elsa would have to see that.

“That’s ... not exactly what I told her.” Thor recalled the vision of Jotunheim that Loki had made for the queen.

“Loki ...”

“She _asked_ , Thor. She wanted to see.”

“Just ... don’t make things any worse.”

“Keeping her true nature from her will not make things better!”

“This isn’t about _you_ , brother!” Thor shouted.

“And the little one,” Loki continued. “‘Maybe it’s different for you,’ as if she knows _anything_ about me!”

“Maybe it _is_ different,” said Thor. “I know your true identity should not have been kept from you, but think about it. You were raised a prince of Asgard. We defeated the frost giants, we fought them as equals, while mortals like her cowered in fear. To the Aesir, the Jotuns are enemies, yes. But to mortals they’re an unstoppable force of nature.” To the mortals of Jane’s time, of course, they were only a legend, but what was legend to Jane was history to Elsa and Anna.

“You keep saying that,” said Loki. “That it was wrong to keep my identity secret. But you don’t mean it. You want things to go back to the way they were before I knew.”

“That’s not ...” It _was_ true, in a way. “I want things between us to go back to the way they were before you turned traitor. Before you tried to impose your rule on Midgard, before you faked your death and impersonated my father on the throne of Asgard. But I would not deny you your true self.”

“We’re not children anymore, brother. All of that _was_ my true self. No,” Loki continued. “If you really meant it, you’d come with me to Asgard, right now, and tell me what I should have known since I was a boy.”

“We can’t—we can’t change history, Loki.”

“Why not?” Loki asked. “You’d get your wish. If I didn’t find out the way I did, maybe there never would have been any treachery.”

“You just said that was your true self,” said Thor. It wasn’t, though, he was sure of it. Mischief had always been in Loki’s nature, but not evil.

“I suppose I did,” said Loki. “And I suppose you’ll never know if things could have been different.”

Thor paused. Changing history, giving things a chance to turn out better, _was_ tempting. But any change was just as likely to make things turn out worse as better. What if Loki’s treachery was just given a head start? There would be no Avengers in this day and age, no hope of Earth standing against him. And if the future was altered so much that they’d never come back in time in the first place? Well, that ... that would just be confusing.

And any change to his own future would almost certainly mean he’d never meet Jane. That—that mattered a lot more than it objectively should.

“We don’t have to change the past to make things different.”

“What, like they’re different now?” Loki asked. “Thor and Loki, co-regents of Asgard—no one believes that. All they see is you holding my leash.”

“Then prove to me—prove to us all—that it does not need to be held.”

Loki only laughed. “The moment you start trusting me, we’ll both be unfit to rule.”

He was right, Thor thought. Things could be different, but some things could never be undone. Not without literally undoing them. “This was the first time I’ve seen your Jotun form,” Thor said.

“And?”

Thor sighed. “And nothing. Come, let’s return to the palace. We have business to finish.”

~~~

The gloves were off. Elsa stretched out her arms and raised her ice palace anew, rebuilding the Winter Courtyard that she had destroyed only the day before. “Your Majesty?” an attendant asked, puzzled.

“The charade is over,” said Elsa. “We have nothing to hide.” The attendant’s face lit up and she smiled, and Elsa almost began to cry. Her people had seen what she could do—they’d had their very lives threatened by her power. They knew its destructive nature, whether they knew its source or not. And still they were happy when she shared it. They trusted her so much ...

Confidence renewed, she poured out more of her strength into the palace. It wasn’t the same as it was before—ice never was, of course, but Elsa drew from what she’d seen of Loki’s vision of Jotunheim, imagining how it might have been. “Today’s court will be held in the Winter Palace,” Elsa told the attendant. “Please inform our guests.”

What Thor and Loki would make of this, she didn’t know. They’d _said_ they trusted her, but all they’d seen of her power was a few flurries. Maybe it would be safer to hide her strength, but then, maybe not. If they were right, if her power was the same as that of the frost giants, then they already knew how destructive it could be. She had to show them it could be beautiful, too.

“Wow.” Elsa hadn’t noticed Anna approach. “I like it.”

“Good.”

“You know you’re not a monster,” Anna said. “You don’t have to prove it to anyone.”

“Wanting them to see it is not the same thing as having to prove it,” said Elsa. “Look—you love me for what I am, _everyone_ here accepts me. Do you know what that means to me?” It meant more than she’d wanted it to mean, that was for certain. When her powers were first revealed, when people had called her a monster, she’d claimed she didn’t need anyone. And she could have lived like that, a force of nature all on her own. But having people who cared for her, who didn’t just accept her but were proud of what she was, that was so much better.

“I do,” said Anna. “You’ve changed so much in the past year. I mean, there’s the fact that I get to see you at all, for one thing. But you’re _happy_ , and that’s—that’s _amazing_ , Elsa.”

“Was I really that bad before?”

“You were _terrible_.” Elsa shot a snowball at Anna, who ducked out of the way, laughing.

“Your Majesty?” A page entered the new-formed ice palace. “Prince Thor and Prince Loki have returned.”

“Good,” said Elsa. “Gather my attendants, then send them here.” The page nodded and left, and Elsa finished her work, building a delicate crystal throne at the far end of the palace.

“Well, don’t overdo it,” said Anna. In reply, Elsa gave a quick wave, transforming her wool riding habit into a sparkling gown of ice.

Anna rolled her eyes. “They’re gonna say ‘let’s go on a quest,’ you’ll say ‘good plan let’s go,’ and then we’ll leave, and you’re _not_ going to wear that on horseback.” Elsa had tried. The horses didn’t like it.

~~~

Anna’s summary of how court would proceed proved accurate, roughly. Both Asgardians remarked on the beauty of the ice palace and Anna thought they looked genuinely impressed—and that Loki actually looked surprised, which was strange. If he was actually a frost giant, shouldn’t he be familiar with stuff like this?

“You know how to find the trolls?” Thor asked, as they set off again.

Anna nodded. She’d visited them several times, both with and without Kristoff, since their first meeting. As far as she knew, Elsa had never met them, but Elsa kept to the head of the party. Thor carried his hammer at his side, she noticed. “You’re prepared for battle?” she asked.

“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Thor said. “To bring war to Jotunheim at this point in history would be disastrous. But it would be foolish to go unarmed.”

“Why disastrous?” Anna asked. “I mean, war in general is a good thing to avoid, but ...”

“He means it would change history,” said Loki. “See, there was peace, of a sort, between Asgard and Jotunheim from the time of the great conflict centuries ago, to a point several hundred years in your future.”

“It is _really_ strange hearing you say ‘was’ about things that haven’t happened yet,” Anna commented. “I mean, you’re basically telling me that the future’s set in stone.”

“Don’t encourage him,” said Thor.

“No, but really,” said Anna. “Are you saying that none of the choices I make are going to have any effect on the world?”

Loki shrugged. “I’d never heard of you or your kingdom before we came here,” he said. “I have absolutely no idea what course your life is meant to take. Anyway,” he added. “That’s exactly the opposite of what I’m saying. I’m saying that any change we make _could_ alter history.”

“Hold on,” said Anna. “Elsa already has her powers, and it’s not like they’re a secret. All the neighboring kingdoms know about them! Doesn’t that ‘alter history’ already?”

“Like I said,” said Loki, “I’ve never even heard of your kingdom—it vanished into mortal obscurity long before our present, and whether or not your queen was a sorceress is, frankly, irrelevant.”

“You don’t know that,” said Anna. “Maybe the fact that Elsa could freeze our enemies’ harbors to solid ice if she wanted to means that Arendelle _won’t_ vanish! Not that we have enemies,” she added.

“Time will tell.” Loki smiled.

“Yeah, and you probably won’t even come back and tell me which of us was right,” grumbled Anna. The way she saw it, if the future was going to change, it was changed already. That didn’t mean they shouldn’t avoid starting a war, of course—but they should avoid it because no one wanted a war, not because of any of that changing the future nonsense. She changed the subject. “So you do think the frost giants are responsible?” she asked.

“They have the most reason to want to take the Casket from Asgard,” said Thor.

“Quiet, we’re here!” Elsa called back to them. She dismounted and approached the valley on foot; Anna and the Asgardians followed suit. “Grandpa Troll?” Elsa called out. So Elsa _had_ visited the trolls on her own. Maybe for the same reason they were coming to the trolls now, to learn more about her powers.

“Grandpa Troll?” Thor called. No one in the group flinched as boulders rolled up around them.

“Elsa! And—is that—Thor, my boy! You’ve grown! And I see you’ve finally claimed Mjolnir as your own!” All the trolls seemed to know Thor. “Oh, you’re here too, Loki.” Anna began to wonder if they’d ever be able to ask what they came here to learn, or if they’d spend the entire afternoon in small talk, until—

“Elsa. What has brought you to us this time?” Grandpa Troll was, as always, calmer than his younger brethren.

“I’m here on their business, Grandpa Troll,” said Elsa. “They seek a weapon that was stolen from Asgard, and they think this weapon is the source of my power.”

Grandpa Troll frowned at Thor and Loki. “You’re out of place, boys,” he said. “You shouldn’t have happened yet.” Thor just nodded, and Grandpa Troll sighed. “I thought this might happen.” He turned to Elsa. “They’re right, dear.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Elsa asked. “You taught me so much about my power, but you never said where it came from.”

“I didn’t tell you because it doesn’t matter,” Grandpa Troll replied. “It used to be a weapon, but it’s part of you now, and you’re the nicest human girl I’ve met in a long time. Well, except for your sister.”

“... my sister and I are the only human girls you’ve met in a long time.”

“Do you know how this came to be?” Loki asked.

“I can put the pieces together,” Grandpa Troll answered. “Nineteen years ago, a Jotun-maid came to us here. She had been told in a dream to seek out the heart of her race’s stronghold on Earth, that she would find something precious there. But there was nothing. I told her to be wary of dreams, for they often make promises they can’t keep, but she said that the knew she could trust it because the messenger in the dream was herself.”

“Did this Jotun-maid have a name?” Thor asked.

“She didn’t give it to me,” Grandpa Troll replied. “Eight years later I first learned of your magic,” he said to Elsa. “It was then that I realized what the object she sought was, and what had become of it. Sending things across time and space is a tricky business. Especially without that handy bridge the Aesir have. But Arendelle’s palace sits at the center of what was once the frost giants’ stronghold, and perhaps it was just easier for it to enter this world as part of your new life than to emerge on its own.” He turned to Thor. “The Casket’s power has been with Elsa since birth,” he said. “It would be impossible to separate the two.”

“Good,” Thor replied. “Its power is in safe hands, then.”

“Thank you,” said Elsa. “You’ve given us what we need.”

So this was it? It was almost a let-down, Anna thought, as they bade their farewells to the trolls. They were supposed to be going on an adventure. “We should seek out this Jotun-maid,” said Loki, clearly on the same page.

“Try to find one unnamed woman out of an entire world?” Thor asked.

“She must have considerable power,” said Loki. “I can find her, I’m sure of it.”

“I would like to put this quest to rest,” Thor admitted. “We can’t call upon Heimdall to send us there. You have your ways?”

“Of course,” said Loki. “But there’s one thing. You shouldn’t come.”

“Loki ...”

“I’m not ‘planning something,’ as I’m sure you’ll so eloquently put it,” said Loki. “But in this day and age, you’re Crown Prince of Asgard. Your mere _presence_ in Jotunheim would be enough to start a war. I have more freedom, in that regard. And before you say anything about not trusting me on my own, I’m sure sure that Queen Elsa would love to join me.”

“I—” Anna began, but Loki didn’t let her finish.

“You don’t have your sister’s power,” said Loki, bluntly. “A mortal woman, dressed as you are now, would freeze to death in Jotunheim. But surely you don’t think your sister could be in any danger in a land of ice and snow?”

“I’m going,” said Elsa, firmly.

“Come, then,” said Loki. “The path to Jotunheim is high in the mountains.”

Anna turned to Thor. “I don’t like this,” she whispered.

“Not everyone can go on every adventure,” Thor replied. “In this case, the reasons for us to stay behind are sound. But,” he added, “I don’t like it either.” He turned back to Loki. “Just ... don’t do anything rash.”

“We’ve been over this,” said Loki. “I know what I can and can’t do.”

~~~

“Here we are.”

“I didn’t know there were just ... doorways to other worlds,” said Anna. She hadn’t come this way before, but there was nothing unnatural here that she could see.

“Few know of them,” said Loki. “And fewer still can find them, or pass through them. But you’ve heard stories of mortals who stumbled into Faerie?”

“That’s where they come from?”

Loki nodded. “And—” With a flash of green, his attire changed. Now he wore a woodsman’s wool and furs. “That is what we’ll be, if anyone questions us. This way, my lady.” He reached for Elsa’s hand, then paused. “I should not show my Jotun form,” he said.

But Elsa didn’t put on her gloves. “I don’t need you to hold my hand,” she said. Loki smiled at that, then turned, took a few more steps—and vanished. Elsa followed his footsteps, and then they were both gone.

“What was that about, not doing anything rash?” Anna asked. “You don’t trust your brother?”

“I don’t,” said Thor. “But your sister seems a responsible, controlled woman. She should be able to keep him from doing anything too reckless.”

“Um ...” That was definitely true of Elsa _most_ of the time. “We kind of ... never told you about the time she accidentally froze the entire kingdom.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“But that was only once. I’m sure everything will be fine!”

 ~~~

The sky was different—that was the first thing Elsa noticed. The light was cool and twilight-dim, though the sun was high in the sky. “This world sits further from its sun,” Loki explained, noticing her gaze. Elsa looked around. There were no structures here, only jagged, ice-covered rocks and gorges, somehow unlike any wilderness she’d ever seen before.

“So just what is it, exactly, that your brother doesn’t want you to do?”

“It’s not important,” said Loki shortly. “He just doesn’t trust me. This way.” He started heading south. Elsa found it hard to keep her footing on the jagged rocks as she followed, so she sent out a path of smooth ice ahead of them. Loki, she noticed, had no more difficulty keeping his footing on the slippery ice than she did.

“You could have disguised him as easily as you disguised yourself, couldn’t you?” Elsa asked. “I think he does trust you. More than he probably should.” Loki was silent. “So,” Elsa continued. “This is about changing history, that much is obvious. What are you planning?”

“Thor trusted you to keep me in line,” said Loki.

“He also called me a wise ruler,” said Elsa. “So he should trust me to put the good of my people and my kingdom first. You said that Arendelle will vanish into obscurity within a few centuries. But that’s not history to me. That hasn’t happened yet, and I see no reason why I shouldn’t do everything in my power to keep it from ever happening.”

Loki smiled. Elsa had no doubt that Loki had brought up the fate of her kingdom on purpose, to encourage her to think this way, but what of that? Information given for ulterior motives was still information worth having. “I like the way you think,” said Loki. “My plans, had I any, would have nothing to do with your kingdom.”

“Then I wouldn’t hinder them,” said Elsa. She paused. “You’re a frost giant yourself,” she said. “But you’re afraid to show your true form on the world of your birth, and you refuse to see your people as anything but ugly, monstrous brutes. Would your plans have something to do with that?”

“Do not presume that you know _anything_ —!”

He strode on ahead and Elsa raced after him. “Look!” she said. “I _don’t_ know how it was for you. I only know how it was for me—to live my whole life thinking I was some sort of monster. There are a lot of things I’d tell my younger self if I could go back in time, if I had that chance, and well—you do have that chance.”

“No,” said Loki. “No, see, I didn’t spend my childhood thinking myself a monster. I thought myself a true son of Odin, a rightful prince of Asgard. I thought the Jotuns were monsters because we all did, because the man I called father never bothered telling me I was one of them. I can’t change that—that’s still centuries back. All I could do would be to cut short a happy lie.”

“Well ...”

“But I won’t,” Loki continued, not giving her a chance to speak. “I won’t, because my brother doesn’t want me to. Because after everything I’ve put him through, he still—” Loki laughed. “He still trusts me more than he should.”

“Yeah,” said Elsa. “Yeah. Siblings do that.” So Loki _wasn’t_ planning anything? She didn’t buy it. Still, like she’d said, it really didn’t concern her. She had her own business here. This was the realm where her powers had come from, this was where they belonged. Suddenly, she had an urge to see more than just this jagged wilderness. Arms outstretched, she raised herself into the sky on an icy platform, a watchtower standing alone in the frozen waste.

“Elsa, what are you—”

“There’s a city!” she called down to him. “It’s—” Elsa sent a staircase spiraling down around the platform. “Look,” she said, as Loki climbed up to join her. “It’s not as bad as what you showed me.”

“It will be. What I showed you was from my own time.”

“So it doesn’t have to get that bad.”

“You would help the Jotuns?”

Elsa shrugged. “Not if they still wish to harm my world. But if they’re not the monsters we were both taught they were—” How could she explain it? That she would never abandon Arendelle again, but that she never felt better, never felt more free, than when she let her power go? There was no room for that in Arendelle, but here ... “That city is in the direction we were heading,” she said. “The one we seek—is she there?”

Loki frowned. “I’m not sure. I think she’s close, though. Wait ...”

“What?”

“The path you made,” Loki said, abruptly. “Get rid of it.” Elsa did so, but she couldn’t keep herself from asking why. “Because it leads back to where we came from.” Right. Of course. One frost giant knew how to reach Earth already, obviously, if she had spoken with the trolls. But that didn’t mean they all did. “Now,” said Loki. “Follow me down. I believe we’re surrounded.”

As they descended the crystal stairs, frost giants emerged from behind the jagged rocks. Elsa had seen Loki’s Jotun form, and had expected the other frost giants to look similar, but these ... they looked far less human. For one thing, they were taller—“giant” wasn’t a misnomer—and they seemed to have some sort of horns instead of hair. One was clearly their leader: a woman in gold-adorned leather armor, who stood a head shorter than any of the others. Elsa would have called her stocky, but as they reached the ground, she could see that she still stood taller than Loki. “Is this—?” Elsa whispered. Loki gave a curt nod.

“So,” said the Jotun, looking down at them. “Prince Loki of Asgard.” In a flash, Loki’s woodsman’s furs vanished, replaced by the green-trimmed leather he had worn before. “I’ve never met a glamour I couldn’t pierce.”

“How would you know if you had?” Loki returned.

She ignored that. “You have something of mine,” she went on. “Don’t even try to hide it, not with the evidence sitting right on top of us. So. Where’s my icebox?”

“The Casket of Ancient Winters?”

The Jotun woman rolled her eyes. “You Aesir give everything a fancy name. Now, I’m not unreasonable. If you’ve come in good faith to return what was once stolen, well then—out with it and be on your way. But if you’re planning something else ...” Ice formed at the hands of her supporters, extending into sharp, jagged blades.

“You’re not Laufey,” Loki pointed out. “What right do you have to claim the Casket?”

“I have that right as his heir,” the Jotun said. “My uncle does nothing but daydream of the past, of revenge against Asgard—revenge he’ll never have the courage to actually take. It falls to me, Angrboda, to restore Jotunheim to its rightful place of power.”

“Laufey’s niece,” said Loki, after a pause. “Tell me, what set you on this path? Was it a dream of the future?”

“How did you—?”

“See, I’m not here to return anything that was stolen,” Loki said. “Only what was misplaced. The Casket of _this_ era still rests in Asgard’s vault.”

“Loki? What are you—?” Surely Elsa had misheard. Loki wasn’t _returning_ anything, he—Elsa stepped back, thinking she should turn and run for it, back to her own world, except—the path was gone. She’d never be able to find the doorway on her own.

“Who’s this mortal?” Spikes of ice shot out around Elsa, but what would ice even do to a frost giant? Angrboda’s eyes widened. “ _You’re_ —so this is why I couldn’t find my icebox!” She pushed Loki aside and leapt over the icicles, landing in front of Elsa and gripping her hands tight before she had a chance to react. Elsa felt something pulling at her power, wrenching it away from her. No! She couldn’t let—she _pushed_. And Angrboda stood still, encased in a solid layer of ice.

Defiantly, Elsa looked around at the other frost giants. “Leave,” she said. “Unless you want to end up like her!” They left.

“I knew she wouldn’t be able to use your power against your will,” said Loki.

“You—!”

“And now she knows it, too,” Loki continued. “Now she knows that we have something she needs, that she cannot take from us by force.”

Elsa looked doubtfully at the frozen frost giant. “I don’t think she knows anything anymore.”

“Oh, she’s not dead,” said Loki. “In fact, I expect she can still hear us. So.” He put a bit more distance between himself and Angrboda.

Elsa followed him. “So you’re not—”

“Handing you over to the frost giants? No.”

“You could have warned me,” Elsa grumbled. “Anyway, I get showing her she can’t use my power, but what good does it to to point out that she can’t trust you?”

“She’d have trusted me far less if a Prince of Asgard claimed to be on her side. Remember, Elsa, we’re not here to make friends.”

“We’re also not here to start a war.”

“Oh, but you don’t understand, we _could_ ,” said Loki. “Things are already changing. This Angrboda, she was nothing in my world. I didn’t know Laufey even had a niece.”

“This Laufey, he’s their king?”

“Yes. And he never suffered any threat to his reign, not in a thousand years. But on the word of a dream alone, she rises to challenge him. Think what she could do with the power to support that dream.”

“I’m not here to get involved in another world’s wars.” Elsa paused. “And neither are you. Do you have something against Laufey?”

“Never mind that,” said Loki. “She’ll be lively again soon. Why don’t you give us some privacy? In case her friends decide to come back.” Elsa raised icy walls up around them, adding on to the watchtower she’d already constructed. “And a couple of thrones,” said Loki.

The ice surrounding Angrboda had already started to melt as Elsa and Loki sat down, but Elsa gave it a little push to speed up the process. Angrboda practically exploded out of the remains of her shell. “Is this some sort of game to you, Asgardian?” She stopped. Looked around at the walls, at the thrones. Then at Elsa. “You did this,” she said. “ _You_ did this, just now.” Elsa nodded. “And I could have—and you, a mortal girl—”

“You should have done a better job with your retrieval spell,” said Loki.

“How did you even know—wait. _Wait_. You’re not the real prince. You’re from the world that doesn’t exist anymore!”

“Doesn’t exist?” Elsa asked. She looked at Loki. “But you said—”

“I suppose it exists, in the sense that they all do.” Angrboda shrugged. “It’s not the real world anymore. Trust an Asgardian not to understand time. Did your blind bridgeman do this? Send you back twenty years after the cascade point, thinking you still had any chance keep the worlds from splitting?”

“Only to retrieve what was taken,” said Loki. Elsa didn’t understand a third of the words Angrboda had used, but she thought she got the meaning. In bringing something into the past, two separate worlds had been created—the one that her powers and Loki had come from, and the one that she lived in now.

“So that’s it, then? The mortal girl goes back with you to Asgard?” Angrboda leaned forward. “Stay with me, Icebox. He’ll only keep you in chains. At _my_ side, we could take on the world together.”

“I have a name. It’s Elsa. And I’m not going anywhere with him, except back to Arendelle. Ruling one kingdom is enough, thank you.”

“She’s not just any mortal girl, you see,” said Loki. “She’s a queen.”

“What did you even come here for, then?” Angrboda asked. “To taunt me in my failure?”

“I need to know how you stole from the heart of Asgard,” said Loki. “That’s all. Tell me, and I’ll leave you to your coup, and believe me, I wish you the best of luck with it.”

Angrboda actually laughed. “That’s all,” she said.

“That’s all,” Loki repeated. “Elsa had other reasons for being here, I think, but that’s her business.”

“I can’t tell you,” Angrboda said. “I don’t know. Go back to your own timeline, if you still can, and find the version of me that did the deed. And,” she added, fiercely, “it’s not a coup. It’s my _right_.”

“It’s really not,” said Loki.

“So Laufey never actually named me his heir. What of that? I’m the only one with any right to that title, after what your people did.”

Loki leaned forward in his seat, suddenly alert. “What my people did?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know.”

“I was but a babe at the time of the war.”

“So was I,” said Angrboda, “and so was Laufey’s son. But the war came to the heart of the capital, to the palace itself. Laufey placed his son in the temple, where it would be unthinkable for anyone to do him harm, but—”

Loki stood up. Paced across the frozen ground. Elsa held her breath—was this how a frost giant had come to be raised as a prince of Asgard? Would he tell Angrboda the truth?

“Placed in the temple for sanctuary,” said Loki. “Not abandoned to the elements.”

Angrboda narrowed her eyes. “You _do_ know the story. Is that how you heard it?” Loki didn’t respond, and Angrboda continued. “What ‘elements’ here could _possibly_ —”

“ _Enough!_ ” Loki slammed his fists onto one of the walls of ice, breaking it to pieces. “We’re done here. I have business in Asgard.” He stepped outside, across the shattered ice.

Elsa looked from Loki to Angrboda and back again. She’d said she wouldn’t interfere with his plans, but if she let him go without her ... he was the only one who could find the gateway she’s so foolishly neglected to mark.

No, that wasn’t true. Angrboda had been to Arendelle, twenty years ago.

“Stop!” Angrboda called. “You can’t just—” She moved towards the broken wall, but with a wave of Elsa’s hand, it was solid again.

“Let him go,” Elsa said. “I’m the one with what you need.”

~~~

She did away with the thrones. Reshaped them into two chairs, facing each other. Motioned for Angrboda to sit. “For starters,” Elsa said, “I can’t trust anything he told me about the future, can I?”

“What did he tell you, then?”

“That Jotunheim would fall to destruction and ruin,” Elsa said. “That my own kingdom on Earth would fade into obscurity.”

“Neither of those things have happened yet,” said Angrboda.

“And if they never happen,” said Elsa. “That won’t change the world that he came from? The world my power was sent from?”

“That’s not how time works,” said Angrboda. “I don’t know as much about those magics as I will, but I know that much.”

“I’m—” Elsa looked at the frost giant. They were looking each other eye to eye now, but that was only because Elsa had built her own chair so much higher. Still, she knew who had the power here. “I don’t want to help you,” she said. “We still tell stories, centuries later, about you—about the death and destruction your people brought to our world. I don’t want to be involved in anything like that. But ... death and destruction is really all my powers _can_ do, on Earth. Yes, I can build beautiful palaces, but—they’re a curiosity. No one can _live_ there, no one but me. I know my power belongs here.”

“And you want to use it,” said Angrboda. “I can give you a way to use it.”

Elsa shook her head. “I won’t use my power for war,” she said. “Not against my people, not against Asgard, not even here on Jotunheim. So if that’s all you want me for, I’m sorry. But if you want to build—if you want a peace that’s more than just an unwilling surrender, if you want a realm that can challenge Asgard with something other than violence—for that, I would help you.”

“I told you,” said Angrboda. “Revenge is my uncle’s dream, not mine. I look to the future.” She paused. “I was forced into that—my future self practically hit me over the head with a vision of what would happen if I didn’t. Future me was right, though—holding on to the past does more harm than good.”

“We ‘mortals’ may actually have an advantage, there,” said Elsa. “It’s easier to let go of the past when there’s no one around who can remember it. You weren’t involved in the war between your people and Asgard,” she said. “Maybe that will help you find a different way out.”

“I _won’t_ go crawling to them,” said Angrboda. “If that’s what you mean by peace—”

“It’s not. What I _mean_ is a position where both nations—realms, I mean—respect each other. Where they both have more to gain as allies than as enemies. I can’t promise that’s what _they’ll_ want—but Thor and Loki were no more a part of the war than you were. And Loki—” Well, that wasn’t her secret to tell. “Well, I don’t know a lot about the Loki of this time,” Elsa admitted. “But I doubt he has much interest in preserving the status quo.” Especially after the Loki _she_ knew was finished with him.

“I’d heard of Loki,” said Angrboda. “He’s the one they call the Trickster, the Spark. Frankly, I’d expected more.”

“Oh, I expect he still has some surprises in store for you,” said Elsa. “Anyway, he led me to you, didn’t he?”

“That’s true,” said Angrboda. “Do you think he had any idea what that would lead to?”

Elsa considered. What else, really, had Loki even been doing in Jotunheim? “Yes,” she said. “I think he did.”

~~~

Thunder shook the sky as Thor paced around the gateway. Anna glanced up nervously. “Are you doing that?” she asked. Distractedly, Thor nodded. Loki and Elsa hadn’t returned. He’d been naive to think that a mortal woman—even one with all the powers of one of the great ancient weapons at her command—could keep his brother in line. “I thought you weren’t actually a god,” said Anna.

“It’s not—” He could explain it to Jane. He didn’t think he could explain it to Anna. And once again he was reminded that this wasn’t his time, wasn’t his world anymore. “Perhaps we should have never come here,” he said.

“I’m glad you did,” said Anna. “I mean, I’m sure I’ll change my mind if Elsa doesn’t come back. But I was wrong, before. Elsa already knew her power could be a weapon—I mean, she’s almost killed me with it. More than once. So I think, in a way ... knowing where her power came from only makes her stronger when she uses it for good.”

He hadn’t thought about it in that way. But at the moment, he had more serious concerns. “That may be,” he said. “But I fear that Loki may have done something reckless.”

Anna glanced at the gateway. “They _have_ been gone a long time. Should we go after them?”

“ _You_ shouldn’t,” said Thor.

“I survived Elsa’s winter last time,” Anna protested. “How much worse can Jotunheim be?”

“Far worse,” said Thor, flatly. “Don’t worry,” he assured her. “I’ll find your sister. And my brother.”

~~~

Snow was falling thickly in Jotunheim. It parted reluctantly for Thor as he made his way across the icy land. There was no sign of any trail or path that he could follow, but there was some sort of tower in the distance, so he made his way in that direction, being careful to first note the location of the gateway he was leaving behind. Loki could just _see_ these, somehow, but Thor could at least recall the position.

There, up ahead in the snow, there was a figure. A _single_ figure ... “Loki!” he called. He swung Mjolnir and leapt, landing in front of his brother. “Loki, what have you done?”

“What have I done?” Loki asked. “What have _I_ done?” He laughed. “I went to Asgard. I sought out Odin.”

Loki wouldn’t—no, Loki _would_. But ... something was off. His laughter was too forced. “What happened?” Thor asked, warily.

“I found Mother first.” And abruptly, Thor forgot all about changing history. He could have seen Frigga one more time ... “She didn’t know—” Loki began. “She told me to cut my hair. And after that I couldn’t—”

Thor took his brother in his arms. Then he pulled away. “Where’s Elsa?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Loki. “It doesn’t matter what she does, what we do. This isn’t our world anymore—nothing we do here will change the real world.”

“ _Where’s Elsa?_ ”

“I’m right here.” The snow around them parted, the ground hardening into a smooth pathway of ice, coming from the direction of the tower Thor had seen. Queen Elsa strode towards them, once more wearing her gown of ice, its cape shimmering in the twilight as it spread out behind her. “I’m finished here,” she said. “Let’s go home.”

~~~

Anna was _just_ getting ready to go through the gateway after everyone else—seriously, how could they all expect her to just _wait?_ —when Elsa stepped back through. “You—you just _look_ for excuses to wear that thing, don’t you?” Elsa smiled, and pulled Anna into a hug. “Hey! Cold!” She laughed, though. “I was worried,” Anna said. “You were gone for a long time—I was worried the frost giants—”

“No,” said Elsa, “No, they tried, but—” She laughed. “We came up with a better plan.”

“You—wait.” An alliance? “You’re working _with_ the frost giants?”

“I have a vested interest in seeing them as more than just monsters, you know.”

“Yes, but ...” It was one thing having a trade partnership with France or something, but frost giants?

“And they’re not, they’re really not. They’re—they’re just people.”

“What about all that stuff about changing history?”

“Well, as it turns out,” Elsa said, “Thor and Loki know a lot less about that than they thought they did.”

“Where are they now, anyway?” Elsa had come through the gateway, but the two Asgardians hadn’t appeared yet. “They didn’t _leave_ leave, did they?”

“They were just behind me,” said Elsa. “Arguing about something.”

As if in response, Thor appeared beside them, mid-conversation. “—just can’t trust a frost giant to know all that much about physics,” he was saying.

“—been spending too much time with Jane Foster,” said Loki, following him through. “And you trust her knowledge, don’t you? A mortal? Anyway, she clearly knew enough of the higher magics to have sent the Casket here in the first place.”

“So you take the rest of what she says at her word?” Thor sighed. “But I suppose there’s no undoing what you did.”

“I barely did a thing,” said Loki. “I only arranged the pieces.”

“Is this a game to you, brother?”

“It is, you know,” said Loki. “It’s not the real world anymore. Not for us. Why not make it more interesting?”

“Loki, your idea of interesting only brings trouble,” said Thor.

“He didn’t make things as interesting as he could have,” Elsa interrupted. “He didn’t tell Angrboda he was Laufey’s son.”

Loki shot a look at Elsa. “I didn’t tell you that, either.”

“You didn’t tell anyone,” Thor realized. “You left it so that if things go differently—”

“Maybe it won’t be so bad when your younger self finds out,” Elsa finished.

“All right, I get it already,” said Anna. “You all had an adventure without me and I have no idea who or what you’re talking about.” Elsa would explain it all eventually, of course, but right now ... “Can we go home now?”

Elsa looked back to the space where the gateway was. She stretched out an arm and a crystalline arch grew up, marking the location. “Yes,” she said. “Now we can go home.”

 ~~~

The four of them rode out the following morning. “How _are_ you getting back to your own time?” asked the princess. “If your future isn’t our future, then—”

“Heimdall was able to send us here,” said Thor. “We can’t call him, but before we came, we arranged a time and place for our return.”

“So that’s why you can’t stay any longer,” Anna said. “You’d be stuck here.”

“And you’re not coming back,” said Elsa. “Are you?”

“No,” said Loki. “The more time passes, the more this world will diverge from ours.”

“So you won’t even be able to see how the future changes.”

“No.” Part of Loki didn’t even want to. When he’d thought this was _his_ world, changing the past, changing the way things had happened—well, why _wouldn’t_ he? But could-haves and might-have-beens that didn’t affect reality—you didn’t have to travel across universes of unknown magics for those. So what was the point?

Well, unknown magics—the possibility of those alone held promise. Somewhere on the ruined Jotunheim of his world was a frost-witch who knew things he didn’t ...

“This is the place,” Thor announced, dismounting. He handed the reigns of his horse off to Anna. “We have little time for farewells,” he said. “I apologize for the disruption we’ve caused in your lives.”

Elsa looked down at Loki as she took the reigns of his horse. “ _You_ don’t, though,” she said.

“Well,” said Loki. “No.” Elsa smiled. _She_ was real, and this universe and all its new possibilities were real to her. It was her future that he regretted not seeing. As for his own— “Elsa,” he said. “If you ever see me again ... don’t trust me.”

His own, he thought he knew.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Come say hi on tumblr if you want, I'm fallenwithstyle over there.


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